Median Home Value

Affordable Housing

Median Home Value

What does this measure?

The home value reported by the homeowner to the Census Bureau, adjusted for inflation. The median represents the mid-point of home values (half the values are above the median and half below).

Why is this important?

A home is usually a person's or family's highest-valued possession. Home values are also an indicator of the region's cost of living, relative wealth, and general prosperity.

Among the individual counties of the region, median home values were highest in Monroe ($140,200) and Ontario ($148,400), and lowest in Orleans ($92,000) and Seneca ($98,200). From 2007-11 to 2012-16, home values stayed flat or fell slightly in every county except for Ontario and Yates (which rose 4% and 2%, respectively). This is similar to each county's mostly unchanged home value from 2000 to 2007-11, except for in Ontario and Yates, which saw double-digit increases during that period.

Notes about the data

Figures for the region and surrounding counties were calculated by aggregating county medians based on each county's share of the region's population. Data are presented in 2016 dollars. Multi-year figures are from the Census Bureau's American Community Survey. The bureau combined five years of responses to the survey to provide estimates for smaller geographic areas and increase the precision of its estimates. The survey provides data on characteristics of the population that used to be collected only during the decennial census.

Because of limitations in available data, figures for 2000 are for single-family homes, but figures for ACS five years are for all owner-occupied housing units. For most counties in New York, the difference is not large enough to affect analysis of trends. Data for this indicator are expected to be released in the fourth quarter.